Pages

Friday, April 24, 2009

One of the best things about the Big Green Egg is its versatility. Sure it's a smoker AND a grill. But it's also a wood fired oven that is great for making pizzas and bread, similar to the brick ovens thanks to the Egg's thick ceramic construction.

Tonight we took one of my childhood favorites (cheeseburger turnovers), put an adult spin on them, and baked them on the Egg. You can do these in a 425f oven and they'll still be great, but fresh off the Egg they were AMAZINGLY good!Brick Oven Beef n Swiss Meat PiesIngredients1 lb lean ground beef (turkey or pork would work as well)1/2 ea vidalia onion, chopped fine1/4 ea green bell pepper, chopped finesalt to taste (we used about 3/4 t of Kosher coarse salt)pepper to taste (we used about 3/4 t)2 cans of refrigerated biscuits10 slices of baby swiss cheese

InstructionsIn a preheated skillet, brown the meat, onion and bell pepper. Drain well, you don't want a soggy pie do you?Flour a surface, take two biscuits, overlap them and then roll them out into a figure 8 kind of like this:Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the meat mixture onto on half of the dough and top with sliced cheese like this:Pull and stretch the empty side over and onto the mixture. We find it helps to slightly moisten the edge of the dough with water first. Then crimp the pie closed with a fork like this:Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you to preheat your oven or Big Green Egg to 425f. If you're using the Egg, set it up with the plate setter LEGS DOWN with a pizza stone on top. If you're using an oven, a pizza stone would help but you can use a baking sheet if that's what you have. If you don't preheat the stone, the bottom of the pies will be a bit doughy, so take your time and get it hot (if Michael Scott was here, that'd be a "That's what she said!" line).Bake the pies for 8-10 minutes each, until golden brown all over.Mmmmmmmmm FREAKING AWESOME COMFORT FOOD!!!This is a great dish to get your kids to help with. You could do a "meat pie bar" at a party or event where people pick their own ingredients to go into the pie. You can do any variations you want, such as:

You just about covered all my craving basis on this one! I forward this to a friend from Texas. She is all about quick, easy and cheese involved in her cooking!

Could you train my hubby, or I would probably find you and him on the patio drinking beers or wine from his cellar; while you guys are laughing, and you would just cook. Why? because you realize like me it is just easier to have him open the beer and me not have to explain every step of the dish... :)

These remind me of Mexican meat pies I used to eat from street vendors in East Dallas when I was in college...damn they were good! Miss the breakfact tacos you got two for a buck!

Yep I sent a friend over here and now she is made, because she is in Texas, I am in Jersey, and you are where you are, so no one to cook this for her, and evidently this recipe was just too hard for her non-cooking ways...I do my best to nudge...

Ok, so I'm a little late on this one, but in Upper Michigan we would make those exact turnovers over the campfire in a little metal cooker thingie on a stick. Obviously, I can't remember the name of the cooker thingie, but the turnovers are called "pasties"...with a short "a" sound. Not like the dancers wear tassles. Anyway, we had them a few months ago when my polish grandfather was visiting. Pierogies on the side. YUM!